We have a bad habit of reading the Bible in all the wrong ways. We read stories as if they were instruction manuals when perhaps we should be seeing in them masterful paintings of what the world is like, what life is like. We read the epistles looking for universal truths instead of examples of how one particular community found a way to deal with their particular problem. We read the gospels looking for prescriptions for healing – take two of these and call me in the morning…but we come away feeling like our particular ailment can’t be found in the book. Or that the prescription just doesn’t work for us.
We have a bad habit of looking for gifts in the Bible that God never even intended to give us. And so we say things like, “God helps those who help themselves. And you know God never gives you more than you can handle. Cheer up; for your good deeds, you will be rewarded. Alas, the Lord works in mysterious ways, and this too shall pass. But remember, ask and you shall receive – if you have faith the size of a mustard seed.”
So, what’s the matter? Maybe you just need a little more faith. Maybe you need to try harder.
And so you do. You work a little harder. You give yourself little pep talks. You step carefully around all the cracks. You avoid questions that you fear might have no answers. And you keep digging, looking for a verse – just a verse, that’s all you want – to find that something that is just the right recipe, that is just what you need.
Sometimes you second-guess yourself. Maybe you shouldn’t have moved and taken that new job. Should you go back? Maybe you should have called her. Maybe you tried to do too much. Maybe you didn’t try hard enough.
The weight gets to feeling so heavy. Every day can feel so hard – when things don’t seem right, when heaven seems so far away. When the people you love are suffering. When you are suffering. When everyone around you is suffering. What are we doing wrong? or, what are they doing wrong?
There are moments, days, weeks, even long years, when you just feel lost…severed from all that matters. All that gives you meaning.
So what do you do? You call the doctor. You try a new exercise program. You scour the self-help section of the bookstore. You read your Daily Bread and Upper Room devotionals looking to decode the magical message written on the pages. There must be a solution. There must be a way for me to fix it.
There must be, because we know that we are on our own here. We have to do this ourselves. No one else knows, no one else will. No one else even cares to hear about your troubles. What is that thing we all say when anyone asks how we’re doing? We say we can’t complain. No one wants to hear it.
We all know we are the only ones who are responsible for our situations. We know it’s all up to us. We learned it at a young age – everyone needs to learn to take care of themselves. Every man, woman, and dog for themselves. So pull yourself up by your bootstraps; you want it? earn it.
You have said these things to yourself. You have probably said some of these things to someone else. You have told your children to grow up. If you are as bad as me, you might have said that to your three-year-old.
Because, face it: it’s a dog-eat-dog world and like Naomi in the Old Testament story of Ruth, there are days when I want to say, “Call me bitter, for that’s who I am now.”
And then somebody looks at me and really sees me. Someone offers me a cup of coffee. Or takes a walk with me. Somebody actually wants to listen to my lament; defying the conventional wisdom that no one cares, somebody cares. Somebody shows me they do care. Someone is willing to be there. Not trying to fix it. Not trying to contradict it or deny it. just being there. That’s when I see that glimmer of hope.
Just when you think it’s all lost, God tells you, I’ve got just what you need today. Enough for today. Every day.
And if you can remember that, it’s all you need. You don’t need all the other words I have said.
But, just for good measure…just in case…I offer you these words from the poet Wendell Berry, who can say anything so much better than I can:
So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute.
Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
…
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Expect the end of the world.
Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable.
Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.
Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts. Because the fact is, today and every day, God’s got just what you need.
*Wendell Berry quote excerpted from “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”
